First comes love, then comes marriage? Maybe not, says poll

About half of Canadians don’t believe it’s necessary to get married, a new poll suggests.

Fifty-three per cent of us don’t feel marriage is any more of a commitment than a common-law relationship, according to a survey released by the Angus Reid Institute on Monday. Forty-nine per cent no longer believe marriage is particularly relevant.

Younger people are more likely to dismiss marriage’s relevance, the poll goes on to suggest, while just over half of seniors believe marriage continues to be important.

Nearly 60 per cent of Canadians think civil unions should be treated the same as marriages when it comes to taxes and separating assets post-divorce.

Adding kids to the picture didn’t make much of a difference, with 56 per cent saying children still weren’t key to getting married.

But for those who did still want to tie the knot, nearly 80 per cent believed it was at least somewhat important to live together beforehand.

Millennials were more skeptical of marriage, with 60 per cent of women in that demographic agreeing marriage isn’t overly relevant while 60 per cent of men flat out thought marriage wasn’t necessary.

Only 33 per cent of Canadians surveyed said society would be better off if people made marriage and children a priority, making them much less traditional than their neighbours down south.

A 2014 Pew Research poll suggests 46 per cent of Americans believe marriage and children should remain top priorities.

Similar splits were seen across the Canadian political spectrum: 48 per cent of Conservative voters thought getting hitched and having kids should be a priority, compared to less than 30 per cent of NDP and Liberal voters.